I've been feeling the itch to contribute to the big bore revolver thread and there's a few Ruger flat tops around me for a decent price and chambered in .44 special. I handload, so ammunition cost isn't a huge issue and I can load up rounds that are adequate for hunting, presumably a backup thumb buster for hogs and deer.
So what is the general consensus on the .44 special? Anyone like it? Any good factory loads available for hunting or is it gonna be mostly a hand loaders world?
I like the 44 spl quite a lot. I have a Smith 4" 24 that gets carried around out of town more than anything so long as I'm not up where the bears hang.
Dont know much about factory ammo. I dug out a couple boxes of factory stuff I bought, uh,....maybe in the 80's? Green and yellow box Remington 246 gr lead round nose trundling along at 750-ish fps. They were starting to get a bit of oxidation on the bullets. Mostly handload.
Keith was correct, with the same bullet, loading 6 1/2 grs Unique and 17 grs 2400 with the Lyman 429421 shoot to the same point of impact.
I think it's the ideal big bore all around cartridge for the lower 48. The only factory loads I might consider for hunting are made by Buffalo Bore
I'm a fan of the 44SPL. I had a Ruger Vaquero in 44SPL and really liked it. It's a soft shooting big bore round. I foolishly sold it a while back, I will have another one someday.
Jesus paid a debt he did not owe,
Because I owed a debt I could not pay.
The .44 Special is a great cartridge with two downsides. First, it is hard to find dedicated .44 Special revolvers these days; you mostly find .44 magnums. Second, if you don't hand load the ammo is fairly rare and generally quite expensive.
That being said, it is hard to find things that the .44 Special won't do. It and the .45 Colt remain excellent cartridges.
This.Originally Posted by Jeep
Okie John
I want to be a fan, but I can't find a Model 24 that I can pay for.
I Like. Many moons ago I hand loaded, not anymore. Recently I started shooting/hunting with my 44 Mag again, I wanted to find some 44 spcl loads, but NO GO, so back to the Factory 44 Mag loads. Since you handload I believe you will be very happy. I used to shoot magnum everything, but for my purposed nowadays the non mag loads do everything for me that the Mag loads will do.
The advantage of the 44mag revolver is that you can shoot either load, and since you handload you are in a win win situation. AND don't forget that is the load Dirty Harry used to shoot, so how can you argue about that!?
I enjoy shooting it out of a rifle. Like shooting a big bore .22
It was one of the first cartidges I became enamored of. I blame this on too much reading of Skeeter Skelton articles in my formative years. I had one of the very first Charter Bulldog revolvers. 1973 or so. It was the worst POS I've ever owned. It would keyhole the bullets at 15 yards. Turns out Charter was torquing the barrels too tightly into the frame and constricting the throat of the barrel. The bullet would swage down through this constriction and then rattle down the bore. The chambers were so rough, due to annular machine marks, that even the mild factory 246gr RNL would stick and be hard to extract. The revolver's action was terrible too.
The factory ammo of 1973 (all 246gr RNL) were very lightly crimped. More often than not, round 5's bullet would jump the crimp and tie up the cylinder before one could fire it. Not being a handloader at the time, I managed to find a run of .44 Russian that Remington had done (same bullet and ballistics, shorter case). Round 5's bullet would still jump the crimp, but wouldn't extend out the front of the cylinder and tie up the gun. At least it made the Bulldog semi-useable.
In the intervening years, I've loaded some .44 Special handloads from time to time. They were always shot in .44 Magnum chambered firearms, so I guess there's no real point to them.
Rosco
Last edited by Rosco Benson; 09-25-2015 at 11:13 AM.
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